Minneapolis North at DeLaSalle Observations

Game 2 for DLS without Royce White. The air of secrecy around it is pretty amazing. Hopefully in the end it all works out for both Royce and DLS. As the famous saying goes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. If worse comes to worse and they have to part ways (and I'm not aware of any possibility of that 1 way or the other), maybe that's a blessing. John Hedstrom and Greg Miller in the building look at North for the 6AAAA tournament, Ed Cassidy and STA in looking at DLS for next week's games (Tues at SB, Fri STA at DLS). And for the 1st time in a while, I see the Howard Pulley folks. That shows how wacky my schedule has been.

A Jalen Jaspers dunk and then a putback gives DLS at 10-3 lead at 14:30. Jeremy Randle drains a 3 ball and its 13-4 DLS at 13:26 to finish a 10-2 run. North with a 7-0 run of their own over the next 4 minutes to get within 2. A Jaspers bucket at 7:27 gives DLS a 16-11 lead. Bryce Hawkins goes to the bench with his 2nd foul at 6:38. 3 straight points from Chamar Wilson for North give them a 22-16 lead with 2:20 to go in the half. Jeremy Randle breaks the drought at 1:40 and another bucket at 1:17. North goes to the break up 24-20. Chamar Wilson with 8 to lead North. Randle with 8, Jaspers with 6, Hawkins bagel which really surprised me. I thought he'd have a bigger role in the offense. The Jaspers bucket at 7:27 is the only DLS FG in a stretch of 11 minutes 46 seconds. That may be a sign of things to come if Royce isn't playing.

Jeremy Randle hits a 3 and AJ Barker has one after a Wilson bucket to tie it at 28 with 15 minutes left. Randle hits another 3 to make it 35-31 DLS (10-3 run) with 11:18 to go. The rest of the game is back and forth. Wilson gets a 3 point play, Jaspers hits 2 FTs before a Wilson putback and its 43-41 North with 5:45 to go. Randle gets a layin to put DLS up 44-43 with 4:50 left. Kearri Pam gets a bucket and is fouled by Hawkins, his 5th foul and he's gone. With the FT, North leads 46-44 with 3:10 to play. Jaspers gets a putback and is fouled at 2:33. He makes the FT to give DLS a 47-46 lead. Curtis Johnson gets his only hoop of the night to give North the lead back with 2:20 left 48-47. Randle gets called for a charge on the DLS possession. North holds the ball and after a timeout Reo Patton gets 2 with 50 seconds to go to give North a 50-47 lead. Tim O'Keefe puts back a miss with 33.8 to go. LaPatrick Jackson misses a front end with 23 seconds left, no timeout DLS. Its gets under 10 and DLS is pretty out of sorts but Jeremy Randle gets a decent look at the winning 3 which misses and the rebound goes long and out of bounds as the clock expires to give North a 50-49 win.

DLS with no answer for Chamar Wilson as he finishes with 20 points. Malik El-Amin played with a heavily wrapped right hand and didn't score. Jeremy Randle with 18, Jalen Jaspers with 16 for DLS. Jaspers played a lot of post which is interesting. I thought Hawkins would get more touches down there but his 1 basket was a 12 ft jumper.